I have declined to enable an offered Comment referring to some categories of women as "cow-like".
In my view, this term lacks sufficient specificity and objectivity.
It is aso open to an accusation of speciesism.
My preference is for objective terminology and for precise meaning.
I shall also decline to enable Comments referring to some categories of men as "bull-like". As for "bullock-like", I would require documentary evidence of the castration.
Out of sentiment, I would tolerate the use, in comments offered in Homeric hexameters, of the formulaic epithet boopis for particular goddesses. 'Inculturation', doncha know.
2 comments:
Dear Father, you are correct, it was a very subjective comment, but in my defence, I will explain its meaning:
When living on a farm in County Sligo, I noticed that the cows would have a sort of shifting leadership among themselves, the AI man having replaced the bull. It was a complete matriarchy.
This was the source of constant trouble, because some cow would take it into her head to get out of the field, and then all of the other cows would follow her. No matter what she did, they would follow her, and they might all end up in some drainage ditch, with a lot of work for the farmer, and perhaps worse. Cows were easy to round up, once you identified the head cow. That cow could easily be dragooned into leading the others back home, but the cows, being easily distracted, might focus their allegiance on some other, random cow. You would know that this happened when they all started running in some other direction, down some seemingly inviting boreen. i could never understand why that direction seemed somehow preferable, and it always seemed strange behavior for a group of otherwise passive animals to adopt. Religious congregations can be like that, should they have the misfortune to come under a certain kind of leadership. How many religious organizations have been ruined by some bossy woman, totally unfettered by tradition or truth? She rules with an iron hand, the women obey, and the men stay home. There might be a lot of activity, but a pall of depression hangs over the place.
So, perhaps "cow-like" was a very poor discription, addressed as it was to a group of people who have never had to chase a group of farm animals in the middle of the night, somewhere in the vicinity of Cloonroosk, or anywhere else, but I am sure the farmers will have understood the intended meaning.
May admirers of the cow-eyed, white-limbed Hera send charming, objective responses!
Post a Comment